The Cosmic Rough Riders were formed in 1998 by Daniel Wylie and Stephen Fleming at the advent of the first big wave of americana as a thing which hit the UK around the time, their first two albums having been recorded in a community-funded recording studio located in Glasgow’s Castlemilk housing scheme. Some tracks went on to appear on their breakout album ‘Enjoy the Melodic Sunshine’ which Q magazine listed as one of the best 50 albums of 2001 and which still sounds phenomenal today. ‘The Pain Inside’ taken from that record (as well as its predecessor ‘Panorama’) has always been my favourite Cosmics song – the melody still transcends most I’ve heard since, and in a year when the world went mad, it was a haven of iridescent jangle-pop among the carnage.
They were a great band! I think, I owe all their records and a couple of Danny Wylie – Solo efforts!